what up?

I'm sorry, it's been a while since I last blogged.
Some highlights of the last few weeks:
1) We roadtripped to Queens last weekend to hand out with the inlaws - We all had fun, saw Bubby and Pop, aunt Sally, aunt Debra and Uncle Aaron - Micah and Emmet enjoyed the attention!
2) I have a happy hour presentation on the Wall of Wonder (a rumored to be a million dollar TV screen at the School of Public Health) on bootstrapping that went over well I think.
3) John and Sandy, Roni's aunt and uncle came to Bmore for a craft's show and we all hung out on Friday night for a spell and had mad fun.
4) Two playdates for Micah this past weekend- and we got him his first library card at the Hampden branch of Enoch Pratt!
5) Public Health Prom - on Saturday the 25th at the Belvedere Hotel on the the 12th floor -where I went to sorority and fraternity formals in years past. A lot of boozing, some fun dancing - I know some students were looking at me like "How has this dude ever heard of Snoop Dogg", but when it comes to music I gets busy.
6)Today (Monday), I wnet on a tour of the Monument Street pre-trial penetentiary here in Bmore, home of the Wire. Eye opening, sad (we toured the execution chanber), and thought provoking. Its amazing how distraught a lot of this city is- its also amazing how majority African-American the criminal justic system is. I gotta get busy and finish my thesis so I can do some real public health work.

Aight, I'm out like trout. More to come in the near future. Peace, love and humptiness!

At long last, the photos are here!

Some photos from Emmet's bday throwdown! (Click on image to see larger version)

Chilling with Caleb.

Mommy and the birthday boy.





Kate and Simon's little boy with a big appetite for sweet potatos, Liam.



Amina driving up a storm!



Some help from big brother!

Micah can clown!

So Roni got these CDs from a former high school classmate who compiled a bunch of '80s tunes for their 20th reunion. Micah particularly loves "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves, and "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
Tonight Roni was singing "I Love Rock and Roll" and asked Micah "Do I sound like Joan Jett?" Micah replied "No, you sound like a jumbo jet!"

Oh snap!

Micah's on it like a hornet!

I'm raising a HR genius..
as we cruised home from daycare, Micah noticed all the plasitc grocery bags stuck in trees across the Baltimore landscape..
He remarked "Daddy, look at all those trees.."
Before I could respond he said
"We need to hire a monkey to climb up the trees and take down the bags.."

Hmmmm.. wonder if monkeys are readily employable.
In any case, I'm still laughing about this..

Hey all,
Pictures are still forthcoming I promise! I’m slow with technology and Roni is the sage who controls all things digital camera related.
Anyhoo, its been quite another week in 2006 – since re-entry into daycare on January 3, Emmet’s been sick about 4 times – the latest morbidity is conjunctivitis, aka “pink eye” – it doesn’t matter how he’s feeling, there is no going to daycare if one has pink eye. Roni has been a saint, staying home and delaying work on her thesis so I can get into the office. But its been hard on everyone and this weekend all 4 of us are suffering from cold related illnesses. I rarely go out, and yet have had to cancel on a friend twice because of this – I don’t feel guilty because my kids are my life and their health is paramount..but I know its hard for folks sans kids to understand, as I did not prior to Micah’s birth.

Nevertheless, the weekend has been good so far. Micah and I drove to DC yesterday (Saturday) to go the Air and Space Museum (neither if us is contagious I think, and if so I’d rather infect DC than Bmore ) . We had a great time – talking and singing on the drive down, and having a special Daddy/son lunch afterwards. And oh those airplanes and rocket ships! The only downer was it rained like the dickens – driving home was slow and a little scary, but we made it. After a short nap, I spent some special time with Emmet too, albeit a large majority was grocery shopping. Man, having two kids is something – Roni and I feel overwhelmed (and overjoyed too) – no down time, we are broke as hell and incurring debt weekly – but I have real respect and awe for single parents, parents of more than 2 kids etc..

In other news, I reneted and watched Hustle and Flow this past week – it’s a 2 hour affair so of course it took me 3 nights to finish –but hot damn, what a movie. The story line is perhaps a basic “Boyz in ‘da Hood”, “South Central”, “New Jack City” type affair, but the characters and acting were awesome, the music surprisingly good (I watched the scene where the main characters sketched out their first song “Whoop that trick” – normally I’d roll my eyes at the clichéd misogyny (although thats probably the point, after all this movie is about a pimp!), but damn if the track wasn't hot- check this scene out and see if your ass doesn't start shaking..

Today (Sunday) we went to the Timonium Fairgrounds to see a train show - I used to be into Lionel trains as a kid, and Micah loves trains. they had some awesome displays fer sure - and Micah was enthralled. But man, this is a serious nerd scene, perhaps myself included - makes Trek conventions and Renaissance fairs look like equals..

Aight, I'm out for now..more to come soon.